Mercury-Tainted Fish Found Widely in US Streams

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/08/20-0


Scientists have detected mercury contamination in every one of hundreds of fish sampled from 291 freshwater streams, according to a U.S. government study released on Wednesday.

-snip-

More than two-thirds exceeded the EPA-set level of concern for fish-eating mammals.

-snip-

The neurotoxin enters the environment chiefly as an air pollutant spewed into the atmosphere by industrial emissions, then falls back to the surface in precipitation and particulate matter carried over long distances.

The main source of atmospheric mercury, according to the EPA, is coal-fired power plants.

-snip-

Some of the highest levels of mercury in the latest study were found in the coastal "blackwater" streams of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana -- relatively undeveloped areas marked by abundant pine forests and wooded wetlands.

-snip-

As with many pollutants, mercury concentrates as it moves up the food chain, from algae, to insects to small fish and larger predators. The main source of mercury poisoning in humans is from eating fish and shellfish.

-snip-

The EPA said this year that it intends to issue new rules under the Clean Air Act to control air emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants.
------------------------


fish are also affected by man made hormones which cause them to be double sexed/strangely sexed. these hormones enter water via sewage runoff, etc.